Over time, computer systems tend to improve in terms of speed, reliability, and processing capability. Taking advantage of these improvements may require a computer system to process and store more and more data. A computer system that processes and stores large amounts of data may typically include one or more processors communicating through a data storage management system with shared data storage. The shared data storage may include an array that itself includes one or more storage elements, such as disk drives.
Mass Storage Systems (MSS) typically include an array of a plurality of disks with a data storage management system comprising software for monitoring the disks and making the data on the disks available. To improve the flexibility and versatility of Mass Storage Systems, MSS can include one or more networked arrays of a plurality of disks. Popular implementations of networks for MSS include network attached storage (NAS) and storage area network (SAN). NAS uses known TCP/IP lines such as Ethernet to access data through industry standard file sharing protocols like NFS, HTTP, and Windows Networking. A SAN allows the MSS to directly access data over Fibre Channel switching fabric through encapsulated SCSI protocols. Each MSS implementation has its advantages and disadvantages.
A SAN is particularly noted for providing the advantage of being reliable, maintainable, and having a scalable infrastructure. However, the SAN's complexity and disparate nature makes it difficult to manage centrally. Thus a problem encountered in the implementation of a SAN is that the dispersion of resources tends to create an unwieldy and complicated data storage environment. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/810,988—which was filed on Mar. 26, 2004, entitled “System and Method for Managing Storage Area Networks and Providing Virtualization of Resources in such a Network,” and assigned to EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass.—disclosed systems and methods for allowing unified management of the SAN. Additionally, EMC Corporation offers a software product that may be used to create a unified data storage management system—the INVISTA virtualization software product, version 1.0, release 2.